The Settlements (?)

As 2016, drew to a close, the Issue of Jewish “settlements” in the region of Palestine
known as Samaria and Judea subsumed all other news. The increasingly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel UN Security
Council passed a resolution demanding that "Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities
in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem". The resolution further stated that the
settlements had "no legal validity" and were "dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution."
In a reversal of long-standing American policy, the lame-duck Obama administration refrained from vetoing the
resolution.

There are many who envision the Jewish "settlements" referred to in the UN resolution as
small tent cities or groups of ramshackle buildings housing ultra-Orthodox Jewish Zealots or rabid Zionists bent
on occupying the ancient Land of Israel. The truth is mainly the opposite in terms of size and modernity. Many of
these so-called “settlements” are moderately large towns and cities and towns with modern buildings, shopping
malls and all modern amenities. While the residents of some of these “settlements” are indeed ultra-Orthodox or
militant Zionists, this cannot be said of all the residents. Many of the "settlement" residents would be more
than happy to live side-by-side with peaceful Arab neighbors, as Jews in Israel proper have been doing for nearly
70-years, following the establishment of the State of Israel. Several of these “settlements” offer job opportunities
to West Bank Arabs with salaries greater than in Arab-majority areas and where Arab unemployment rates are quite
high. As the saying goes, “Don’t believe everything you read!” Facts on the ground are often quite different from
what the foreign press reports, particularly if the sources of these reports have anti-Semitic and anti-Israel
biases.

Attempting to Re-Write History with the Help of the Useful idiots of the World

Ever since the bleeding heart dupes around the globe gave the terrorist, Yasser Arafat,
access to the world stage in the Middle East, the “Palestinians” and their henchmen have been treating the rest of
the world like marionettes in a puppet show. Now, the Palestinians, under the leadership of West Bank president
Mahmoud Abbas continue to pull the marionettes’ strings. The willing puppets of the world are dutifully dancing to
the “Palestinian” and anti-Israel music. Abbas has even called for a lawsuit to rescind the World War I Balfour
Declaration.

“The British promise {the Balfour Declaration} led to the creation of a Mandate for
Palestine by the League of Nations after World War I that was tasked with facilitating the creation of a Jewish
national home. That’s why Palestinians who rejected any idea of sharing the land a century ago as much as they do
today regard the declaration as the start of all their troubles. - - -
“. . . {T}he real blame for the plight of the Palestinians (a term that only began to be
associated with Arabs rather than Jews after the birth of Israel in 1948) belongs to their own leadership. They
have rejected every offer of partition since the 1930s. Nevertheless, they were still offered a state in almost
all of the West Bank, Gaza, and a share of Jerusalem by Israel and rejected each one. If they are seeking
intervention by the UN or international courts, it is only because they refuse to engage in direct negotiations
with Israel. Doing so would require them to make peace and end the conflict for all time. - - -
“For years. those intent on pressuring Israel into making more territorial concessions to
the Palestinians have tried to claim that ‘moderates’ like Abbas truly want peace. But every peace negotiation or
Israeli gesture, such as Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal of every soldier, settler, and settlement from Gaza in 2005
hasn’t budged the Palestinians from the same intransigent position they’ve held since they rejected Balfour, the
Mandate, and the 1947 UN partition plan.
“So, rather than merely a nonsensical diversion into fantasy, the Palestinians’ lawsuit
illustrates the plain fact that their goal remains not merely an Israeli pullout from the West Bank and Jerusalem
but a reversal of the verdict of history altogether. This reflects the state of Palestinian public opinion and the
fact that their national identity has remained intrinsically tied to the century-old war against Zionism. Not until
they give up this futile quest will peace be possible – something the majority of Israelis already understand but
which has eluded the U.S. government . . .
“So long as the Palestinians are still trying to erase Balfour, the idea that they are
prepared to accept the state of Israel is the real joke.” (Ref. 1)

In 1917, the Balfour Declaration started the process of reestablishing Palestine as the
Jewish national homeland. Later, “Jews were promised a ‘national homeland’ on 43,000 square miles of land in the
1922 British Mandate for Palestine. After 76% of the land was given away to form Transjordan (today’s Jordan) the
UN decided to partition the remaining 24% into two sovereign states, one Arab and one Jewish. This left the Jews
with a mere 12% of their originally ‘promised land’. They agreed to the concession. And what did the Arabs do?
They rejected the UN vote and attacked Israel the day after its inception.”(Ref. 2)

A Palestinian Nation has Never Existed, Does not Exist and May Well Never Exist

“Palestinians” have no inherent claim to the ancient Land of Israel. “Palestinians” are
simply descendants of Arabs who first began to arrive in Israel around 640 CE. They arrived in greater numbers
during the Arab conquest of the Holy Land around 1187 CE and especially during the Mamluk rule, from 1260-1516 CE.
On the other hand, there is “historical and genealogical evidence that confirms a continuous Jewish presence in
Palestine dating back to the Hebrews’ return from Egypt, circa 1200 BCE. . . .The ancient Jewish connection
to Palestine is confirmed in the Jewish Bible, the Christian Gospels and the Koran . . .”
(Ref. 3)Jews have a more legitimate historical claim to that part of Palestine
known as Judea and Samaria than any Arab late-comers. Even Christians pre-dated the Arabs in this region
by at least 600 years.

“There is no doubt that Jews are the legitimate indigenous people of Palestine. That’s
not, however, to deny Palestinian hopes for a sovereign state. In fact, Israel has many times offered to support
such a state, if only Palestinians would abandon their jihad against Israel’s legitimacy and accept the right of
the Jewish people to their own state.” (Ref. 3)

There has never been a “Palestinian” nation and today there, is no “Palestinian
Nation”. If the “Palestinians”, their Arab supporters, and the anti-Semites of the world continue their policies
of encouraging the “Palestinian” leadership to refuse to negotiate a meaningful and just “final peace agreement”
until the “Palestinians” obtain the concessions from Israel of the “right of return” and “removal of the
settlements” there never will be a “Palestinian nation”!

Let’s remember some historical facts. “(1) Judea and Samaria were designated as part of
the ‘Jewish national home’ by the League of Nations; (2) Jordan illegally occupied this area {for nearly 20-years};
(3) the areas acquired by Israel in 1967 were taken in a war of self-defense and were never part of any state or
proposed ‘Palestinian’ state.” (Ref. 4)

In point of fact, the “Palestinians” have essentially had their own state for the past 20
years – they just haven’t formalized or finalized it. Gaza is essentially an independent nation, ruled by Hamas.
There are no Jews in Gaza. The same is true of the West Bank, except in the “settlements” and in parts of the
West Bank where Israeli military control is needed to contain the terrorists operating from those areas. Both are
Jew-free or as the Nazis would say “Judenfrei”. Both the West Bank and Gaza could have long ago reached total
independence except for the fact that independence is not their objective – the elimination of Israel is their real
goal. And, in hopes of achieving this goal, the “Palestinians” keep raising the false issues of the “right of
return”, the “settlements”, “Jerusalem and the Temple Mount”, and “pre-1967 borders” to avoid having to settle
for something other than the recognition of the Jewish Land of Israel as their legitimate neighbor.

The concept that the West Bank and Gaza are “occupied territories” is a fallacy, spread by
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propagandist throughout the world. In Ramallah and Jenin in the West Bank, there are
no Israel soldiers or police or governing officials of any kind. Both cities, and other parts of the West Bank are
ruled, not by Israel, but the Palestinian Authority, the PA.[5]

As “a result of the Oslo accords, nearly all Arabs living in Areas A and B in Judea and
Samaria are under {the jurisdiction of} the Palestinian Authority. And, via the 2005 Disengagement, Arabs living
in Gaza are under Hamas {rule}. In both cases, they enjoy full political, economic, social, and cultural
autonomy. . .
“Israel exercises vital security controls in order to prevent terrorism and apprehend
terrorists – a right that is included in the Oslo accords and is supported by international law. Checkpoints, like
those in every airport, are meant to save lives, not impede them.” (Ref. 4)When one hears of a terrorist attack in Israel, it is almost always committed by one or
more of the nearly 3 million Arabs from the West Bank, but very rarely by any of the more than 1-1/2 million
Israeli Arabs!

“The reality in Jenin and Ramallah is quite different from the hallucinations about
‘occupation.’ The reality is that in 1995, Yitzhak Rabin withdrew Israel’s forces from the cities where 98 percent
of the remaining Palestinians reside. Those cities are off-limits to Israel except when Israeli troops are forced
to briefly chase after terrorists whom the PA refuses to arrest. - - -
“True, the PA can’t import North Korean missiles or Iranian ‘volunteers.’ But except for
that, the PA is essentially running its own state.
“{As the head of an Israeli political party said,} ‘the PA has existed for over 20 years
and Israelis do not have a presence in Palestinian cities except when there are security needs.’
“{The West Bank is} a world where uniformed Palestinian troops guarding a near de-facto
Palestinian state known as the Palestinian Authority rule over the Palestinians in place of the Israeli ‘occupiers’
who left 21 years ago.” (Ref. 5)

Let’s remember that until Israel became an independent nation in 1948, and even more
recently, until after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War, many, if not most, Palestinian Arabs considered
themselves to be Syrians. An independent “Palestinian” nation was only an afterthought brought about by the
emergence of the State of Israel and the start of the Arab propaganda war calling for the elimination of
Israel.

”Illegal Occupation?”

The Israel-haters shout “illegal occupation” and the useful idiots of the world mindlessly
join in repeating this meaning less phrase. “The phrase in meaningless {because} there has never been a
modern nation in Judea and Samaria to occupy according {to} international law, [Emphasis mine] and the
territory historically was the Jewish homeland for centuries.”
(Ref. 5)

”Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!)

When the Nazis took power in Germany in the 1930s, signs sprang up that said,
”Juden Raus!” meaning “Jews get out!” More than 80-years later, the same sign appears in Samaria
and Judea – now called the West Bank in a name change that hides the historical and biblical relationship of the
area to the Jewish people.

To whom does this area belong? It can’t belong to something called the “Palestinian
Nation” because there never has been a “Palestinian State” and today there is no “Palestinian State”. In 1948,
the area came under the control of Jordan, according to an armistice that ended the fighting between the new State
of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jordan did not allow the creation of a “Palestinian State”. Indeed,
there was no international cry for its creation. Remember, it was occupied by Jordan – not Israel.

Some nineteen years later in 1967, Jordan joined in attacking Israel, despite pleas from
Israel for it to stay out of the Six Day War. It lost, was driven out of the West Bank and the “West Bank” now came
under the control of Israel. Suddenly, the myth of a “Palestinian people and nation” was created. Obviously, there
is one set of rules for non-Jews and another for Jews or Israelis.

With respect to the territories captured by Israel in the Six Day War, “What legitimately
belongs to the State of Israel and the Jewish people? According to all legal experts, the law of occupation is
invoked when one country seizes territory that legitimately belongs to another country.
{BUT,} since Jordan’s occupation of Judea and Samaria was not recognized by anyone
(except Britain and Pakistan), its occupation was illegal. Moreover, Jordan renounced its claims to the territory
in 1988 and re-confirmed that renunciation in its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, which recognized the Jordan River
as the international boundary. The treaty makes no reference to Palestinian claims or a Palestinian
state.“ (Ref. 4)

If the Jewish “settlements” in the area regarded as the West Bank were to be removed, the
West Bank would be ethnically cleansed of Jews. But this is what the "Palestinians" and their anti-Semitic supporters
are calling upon the UN and other anti-Israel nations to endorse. “Any UN condemnation of settlements would support
the anti-Semitic Palestinian position that a future state must be ethnically cleansed of all Jews.
“What exactly is the problem with Jews living in the West Bank or eastern Jerusalem, areas
with deep historical and religious significance to Judaism? Condemning Jewish construction in these areas would
seem to support Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas' extremist position that not a single Israeli can live in a
future Palestinian state. ‘In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli – civilian or
soldier – on our lands.’ Abbas said.” (Ref. 6)

Contrast this unabashed call for ethnic cleansing with what exists in Israel, where Arabs,
Moslems, Christians, Druze, Circassians, Baha’i and other ethnic and religious communities exist, thrive and are
welcomed by the State of Israel. Anyone who has travelled through Israel can attest to the numerous Arab/Moslem
cities, towns, villages and “settlements” that dot the landscape with their mosques, and green topped minarets.
Although a Jewish state, Israel does not call for the expulsion of non-Jews. Why then the demand to remove all
Jews and “settlements” from an imaginary "Palestinian" state?

The “settlements” are not illegal. Israel occupied the West Bank after defeating Jordan in
the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan had earlier, in 1948-1949 occupied the area known as the West Bank. Jordan and the rest
of the world never identified the West Bank as part of a "Palestinian State". In fact, the concept of a "Palestinian
State" did not exist until Israel gained control of the region, originally known as Samaria and part of Judea.
Having expelled Jordan from the West Bank, Israel had, and still has, every right to consider the West Bank to be part
of Israel. The United States defeated Mexican forces in the mid-1800s and took possession of the American southwest,
including California, New Mexico and Arizona. Nobody disputes that this conquered territory is part of the United
States. Nobody disputes that Puerto Rico, won by the U.S. from Spain in 1898, is part of the United
States.

The boundaries of the West Bank have no significance – they don’t exist. What some consider
to be the borders of the West Bank, were simply lines drawn on a map in green ink that identified the cease-fire
lines that ended Israel’s 1948-1949 war of independence. These lines were never the borders of a non-existent
“Palestinian State.”

The “pre-1967 border” or the “Green Line” is the demarcation line set out in the 1949
Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria after the 1948
Arab–Israeli War. It served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel from 1949 until the Six-Day War in
1967. The name, “Green Line”, comes from the green ink used to draw the line on the map while the armistice talks
were going on.

“The singular focus {by "Palestinians" and anti-Israelis} on settlement activity leaves out
the intent of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, the only binding resolution pertaining to the West
Bank, which calls on Israel to withdraw under a future final-status solution ‘from territories occupied’ as a
result of the 1967 Six Day War. The resolution does not call for a withdrawal from ‘all territories.’ A designation
deliberately left out to ensure Israel’s ability to retain some territory for security purposes under a future
deal.
“. . . {I}nternational law does not make Israeli settlements illegal.” (Ref. 6)

”Palestinians” Refused to Have their Own Nation Many Times

In the second half of 2000, Yasser Arafat was offered a Palestinian State by Ehud Barak at
the Camp David meeting hosted by U.S. President, Bill Clinton. Arafat refused the offer.[7, page 265]

In 1937, even prior to the creation of the State of Israel, the Arabs rejected the
offer of their own country when they refused to accept the recommendations of Britain’s Peel Commission. At that
time, the concept of an Arab Palestine was non-existent. Palestine was simply the area controlled by Britain under
a mandate granted it by the League of Nations. “Palestinian” referred to anyone living in the mandate region – there
were Jewish Palestinians and there were Arab Palestinians.

In any case, the so-called “Palestinians rejected a state in 1948 {UN Resolution 181},
again in 2000/01 at Camp David/Taba and in 2008 under Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. These were extensive
concessions by Israel, but the Palestinians walked away and in some instances launched war and terrorism. - - -
“The Palestinians have consistently refused statehood when it was offered to them through
negotiations, most recently just a few years ago when present leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected Ehud Olmert's peace
plan. Just as his predecessor, Yasir Arafat, rejected President Clinton's plan in 2000 (which Israeli PM Ehud Barak
accepted).
“In the summer of 2000 US President Bill Clinton hosted intense peace talks at Camp David
between Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli leader Ehud Barak, culminating in a comprehensive peace plan
known as the Clinton Parameters, which was similar to the later Olmert Plan, though not quite as extensive.
“Despite the vast concessions the plan required of Israel, Prime Minister Barak accepted
President Clinton's proposal, while Arafat refused, returned home, and launched a new terror campaign against
Israeli civilians (the Second Intifada).” (Ref. 8)

As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, stated immediately after the U.N. vote
to make “Palestine” a “non-member state” in 2012, “The Palestinians could have had a state as old as I am if they
had made
the right decision in 1947. - - - They could have had a state if they had worked with my husband and then-Prime
Minister Barak at Camp David. They could have had a state if they’d worked with Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign
Minister Livni, - - - I don’t care how many people try to revise that history, the fact is [Arafat] said no at Camp
David.” (Ref. 9)

The undeniable fact is, that had the Arabs accepted the U.N. Partition Resolution of 1947
and not violated the UN Charter by attacking Israel, there would be a 63-year-old Palestinian state today next to
Israel, and there would not be a phony “settlement” issue today.

By Einstein’s Definition, the Palestinians and the UN are Insane

Albert Einstein is reported to have defined insanity as follows: Insanity: doing the
same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By this definition, the “Palestinians” and the
United Nations are certifiably insane. The UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east
Jerusalem is the latest step in this insane process. Coupled with UNESCO’s move to declare, the Temple Mount, the
Western Wall, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb part of a non-existent “State of Palestine”, UNRWA’s
record of keeping Arab victims of the 1948-1949 Israel-Arab war and their descendants in refugee camps for nearly
70 years, and the endless resolutions denouncing Israel in the UN’s chambers while ignoring the atrocities being
committed worldwide by terrorists, despots and tyrannical regimes throughout the world, strips the UN of any
legitimacy and any valid right to act as an unbiased mediator in any action concerning the State of Israel. Today,
the United Nations has proven itself to be anti-Semitic, rabidly anti-Israel and, according to Albert Einstein,
totally insane. America’s outgoing president Obama, along with Secretary of State, John Kerry, have now shown
themselves to be of the same breed as the UN wolves clamoring for Israel’s skin and scalp.

“The Palestinians {and their Arab accomplices} not only have rejected one offer after
another for a peaceful settlement in the past nearly 70 years, but also, tragically, their misguided actions now
make any chance of an accord going forward still less likely.
“Friday’s UN Security Council resolution {calling Jewish settlements in the West Bank
illegal} is a case in point.
“If the goal was to increase the chance of Palestinian statehood alongside Israel (and not
in its place!), it was an abysmal failure, despite the lopsided vote. Those diplomats who rushed to applaud the
outcome - and I’ll set aside thuggish countries like Venezuela that don’t bring a shred of good will to the UN
table - should think twice about what they actually achieved.
“If they wanted to excoriate Israel, a longstanding vocation of too many UN member states,
then they can thump their chests, even if, alas, they habitually reserve such scrutiny for the only democratic
nation in the Middle East. But for those truly committed to advancing prospects for peace, they took a big step
backwards, once again falling into the Palestinian trap.
“Three things should have been abundantly evident by now.
“First, while Israeli settlement-building is unquestionably a highly contentious matter,
the core issue in the conflict has always been the refusal by the Palestinians and their supporters to
recognize Israel’s legitimacy and negotiate in good faith a lasting peace deal. [Emphasis mine] That was
true in 1947-8, when a two-state solution was proposed by the UN; in 1967; in 2000-1; in 2008; during the ten-month
(2009-10) settlement freeze that Israel adopted under Prime Minister Netanyahu in response to an American request;
and in 2013-14, the most recent attempt at direct, bilateral talks facilitated by the U.S.
“Evidence abounds for this consistent pattern of rejectionism. One particularly
striking comment, as true now as then, came from an unlikely source. In 2003, the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. was
quoted in The New Yorker as saying: ‘It broke my heart that [PLO Chair] Arafat did not take the offer (of a
two-state deal presented by Israel, with American support, in 2001). Since 1948, every time we’ve had something on
the table, we say no. Then we say yes. When we say yes, it’s not on the table anymore. Then we have to deal with
something less. Isn’t it about time to say yes?’ [Emphasis mine]
“Instead of obsessively and relentlessly focusing only on Israeli actions, why aren’t UN
Security Council members asking the Palestinians to explain seven decades of avoiding a settlement of the conflict
on terms satisfactory to both parties?
“Second, the Palestinians clearly would rather do diplomatic end-runs, thus avoiding the
bargaining table and seeking instead to internationalize the conflict. That may produce some short-term victories,
given the numbers game dominated by the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Non-Aligned Movement,
not to mention the art of political expediency practiced by too many UN member states that ought to know better.
But where has it gotten the Palestinians? Exactly nowhere - if, that is, the real aim is a Palestinian state
alongside Israel.
“To the contrary, this approach has only convinced many Israelis that the Palestinian
leadership has no real interest in finding a solution, only in waging a struggle. By now, it should be abundantly
clear, though, that Israel is strong, and getting stronger, and that any notion Israel will fall to its knees and
succumb to the pressure is just a fanciful illusion.
“And third, shouldn’t the responsible members of the international community push the pause
button and look more closely at how peace might best be attained?
“Israel has enduring treaties with Egypt and Jordan. In both cases, they were reached not
through the UN, but rather via face-to-face talks. Israel made unprecedented territorial concessions of land it
obtained in the 1967 war of self-defense, but did so confident that Egyptian President Sadat and Jordan King
Hussein had made sincere decisions to abandon war with the Jewish state.
“Every poll in Israel has shown a majority of Israelis supportive of a two-state accord
with the Palestinians, but, at the same time, deeply skeptical of Palestinian sincerity. And why shouldn’t Israelis
have doubts? Palestinian Authority President Abbas, in the 11th year of his four-year term, talks out of both sides
of his mouth, claiming he wants a deal, but then resorting to incitement, refusing to sit down with Israeli leaders,
trying to corner Israel diplomatically, and presiding, if that’s the term, over a deeply divided (West Bank-Hamas)
polity.
“Instead of infantilizing and coddling the Palestinians, succumbing to their every
misguided whim, and endorsing their counter-productive behavior, isn’t it high time to see the situation as it is
for both parties (and not only for the Palestinians), learn from the past, and help create conditions for tangible
progress?
“When Palestinian leaders emerge who grasp the legacies of President Sadat and King
Hussein, extend the front, not the back, of their hand to Israel, and recognize that the legitimate concerns of
Israelis must also be addressed in the process, then, whether it’s Prime Minister Netanyahu or, down the road,
another elected Israeli leader, they will find a willing partner. To illustrate, given his hawkish political
background, Menachem Begin may have seemed an improbable candidate to evacuate the vast buffer space, oil deposits,
and air force bases of Sinai, but he did so to the last grain of sand for the sake of peace with Egypt.
“In other words, history lessons abound, even if, at the UN these days, history students
don’t appear to be in overabundance. (If they were, they would know, for instance, that no Israeli government will
ever acknowledge the absurdity of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall, containing Judaism’s holiest
sites, being depicted as ‘occupied Palestinian territory.’)
“Friday’s vote at the UN Security Council will be remembered as a Pyrrhic victory for the
Palestinians - and a step backward in the quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace.” (Ref. 10)

The truth is that the longer the “Palestinians” and their useful idiots delay reaching a
peace agreement with Israel, the less they will get. 70 years ago, “the settlements did not exist. By stalling,
delaying, and refusing to negotiate in good faith, the “Palestinians” have allowed 400,000 or more Jews to
establish some 125 flourishing communities in Judea and Samaria.[11]
The chances that Israel will now or in the future dismantle all these communities and dispossess 400,000 of its people
are slim to none. If the “Palestinians” and their sycophants think that further waiting will improve their hopes for
a Jew-free “Palestinian Nation”, they are insane. It ain’t going to happen! More stalling on their
part only ensures more Jews and more “settlements” in Samaria and Judea.

If and When there’s a Palestinian State, It Won’t be in Pre-1967 Borders!

If and When a Palestinian State becomes a reality, the “Palestinians” are not going
to get a state that encompasses all West Bank land won by Israel in 1967! a Palestinian State composed of
all the territory won by Israel in 1967 is a fairy tale which “Palestinian” leaders feed their masses. It is a
holy grail that they seek and which they are encouraged to believe they will attain by the countries and global
leaders who feed them the lie that if only they wait, the “world” will give them what they seek. They ignore the
reality that their ultimate future must be subject to negotiations between Israel and themselves. While the
“Palestinians" have agreed to this in writing, they, and the other ignoramuses of the world choose to neglect this
fact. They conveniently neglect to mention that the original UN Security Council Resolution 242 regarding the
territories captured from Jordan, Egypt and Syria in 1967 called the “withdrawal of Israeli Armed Forces from
territories occupied since the conflict.” “Significantly the word ‘the’ does not appear in the
1967 document. [Emphasis mine] And this was not happenstance. Whether to include or omit that word was
the substance of fierce negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The underlying issue was that
the word ‘the’ would require a withdrawal from all land seized in the war while its omission would require
withdrawal from only some land. The omission of the ‘the’ in the final wording reflected the consensus
that a negotiated settlement would require only partial withdrawal.” (Ref. 13) The intent was and is that a final agreement with final borders was to be determined by negotiation –
not arbitrarily by green pen marks on a map!

For 50 years, Israel has offered to negotiate its withdrawal from the conquered
territories and for 50 years the “Palestinians” have refused – always with the hope that the idiots of the world
would give them more – more meaning all of the original Palestine and the removal of all Jews from the Middle
East.

Jew- and Israel-Haters Use Settlement Issue to Mask their Bigotry

The usual crowd of Jew- and Israel-Haters use the settlements issue to call for the
ostracism and delegitimization of Israel, while their real goal continues to be the eventual elimination of the
Jewish State. “This year, a group of media and academic leftists and NGOs, financed by J Street, Peace Now, the
New Israel Fund, and others are planning to protest the presence of Jewish communities (“settlements”) in “occupied
Palestinian territory.” (Ref. 4)

These bigots either have bought into the propaganda lies of the anti-Israel crowd or they
are simply Jew-haters. They claim to believe that eliminating the “settlements” will bring peace between Israel and
the “Palestinians.” But, for “those who oppose the ‘occupation’ and ‘settlements’, the problem is that the
Arab world and especially the Palestinians are unwilling to end the conflict. Although unhappy with the {current}
status quo, they also understand that the alternative – a dysfunctional, hate-driven Palestinian state – will likely
be worse. Stuck in a fantasy that giving up land will somehow improve Israel’s moral position, yet aware of security
dangers, they offer no realistic, reasonable solution to this stalemate.” [Emphasis mine]
(Ref. 4) Instead, they ignorantly parrot the anti-Semitic
propagandists’ smoke-screen that giving “Palestinians” the “right of return” and eliminating the Jewish West
Bank “settlements” will end the ongoing conflict. There are still those that profess to believe in the
tooth-fairy!

Obama Shows True Colors in Last Days in Office

With his time in office coming to an end, and his hoped-for Democratic Party successor,
Hillary Clinton, losing the 2016 presidential election, Barack Obama showed his true colors - a hatred for Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a latent antipathy or outright hatred of Israel – by reversing long-standing
American foreign policy and even his own former (2011) position by refusing to veto the Pro-Palestinian and
anti-Israel U.N. Security council resolution declaring Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be
“illegal”.

“The effect . . . of the Obama decision to push for, and abstain from, a vote on this
resolution is to deliberately tie the hands of President Obama's successors, most particularly President elect
Trump. That is why Trump did the right thing in reaction to Obama's provocation. Had the lame duck president not
tried to tie the incoming president's hands, Trump would not have intervened at this time. But if he had not urged
the Egyptians to withdraw the resolution, he would have made it far more difficult for himself to try to bring
about a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. - - -
“Now peace will be more difficult to achieve, as the Palestinians become further
convinced that they do not have to accept Netanyahu's offer to negotiate without preconditions. [Emphasis
mine]” (Ref. 12)

Only Direct Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations will bring Peace

As was the case with the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement and the Jordanian-Israeli peace
agreement, only direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations can bring about a real and last peace and a realistic
two-state arrangement. As long as the “Palestinians” try to impose unilateral conditions such the “right of refugee
return” and “removal of Jewish settlements” in international forums such as the United Nations, there will be no
peace and no Palestinian State!

Jewish “settlements” in Samaria and Judea are a fact. The 400,000 Jews there are facts.
The facts will not go away. The 125 Jewish “settlements and the 400,000 Jews living in them will not go away.
If there ever is a final peace agreement and a “Palestinian State" emerges, meaningful borders for the new nation
will then be established. Some “settlements” will likely be vacated, others will not. What will emerge remains to be
determined and what emerges will certainly be painful for both the “Palestinians” and the Jews. But, compromise in
this case requires very painful concessions on both sides. In the past, Israel has offered these painful concessions
and the “Palestinians” have ignored these offers without presenting any semblance of compromise on their side.
As long as there are people and nations in the world that encourage this type of behavior on the part of the
“Palestinians” they will continue to be “occupied”. If and when the “Palestinians” come to their senses, they will
receive less than they would have received 50 years ago and less than they could get today. The longer they wait,
the less they will receive. The settlements are growing while they refuse to sit down at the peace table. The
problem continues to be the basic refusal of the “Palestinians” to negotiate. In spite of diplomatic efforts to
isolate and demonize Israel with red herring issues such as the “settlements”, the "Palestinians" are not going to
succeed as some demagogues would try to have you believe.

As long as the useful idiots of the world keep telling the “Palestinians” that, if they
keep refusing to negotiate a final and meaningful peace agreement with Israel, they will get “all" that they seek,
the “Palestinians” will not sit down and enter into honest negotiations. Why should they when they believe these
deceivers? They have swallowed the line that the longer they wait, the more they will get. Instead, the
“Palestinians” need to be told and they need to understand that the longer they wait, the less they will
receive. Until they stop listening to their Jew-hater and Israel-hater leaders and other anti-Semites,
the hatred, the killing and the terror will continue. It is the way of the Middle East and of
radical Muslim extremism. The "Settlements" issue is not the main obstacle to peace - the refusal of the
"Palestinians" and their leaders to sit down at the peace table and honestly negotiate is!